A Different kind of December Music Season

I am writing this as I soak in a brilliant Carnatic audio-visual experience titled “Friends in Concert” for the second time today. I’ll talk more about that experience later, but for now, let us step back briefly to Dec 2019.

The month of December is a bonanza for residents of Chennai as they get to experience a deluge of fantastic Carnatic (South Indian classical) music concerts. The December music season as it is referred to, has been a prized possession of Chennai residents for many decades now. For expatriates like me, this month represents an opportunity to listen to snippets of many of these concerts and only imagine how it must be sitting in the Sabha for the entire concert.

Then 2020 happened. Like everything else impacted by COVID, Carnatic music and the centuries long tradition of concerts took a hit like never before. Since March, artists have been sitting at home, trying to figure out how to take care of themselves and their families, not just from the pandemic but with such a huge drop in their income. Slowly, the music community started doing concerts from home. With flaky internet connection and the awkward video positioning, it was not the best of experiences. But even in the amateur setup, the purity of the music and the devotion to the art shined through. Artists were trying to make the best out of a horrible situation and while the initial wave earned a lot of sympathetic viewers, it was evident there needed to be more for the December season if it were to be impactful. Enter the high quality productions.

Over the past few weeks and months, every Carnatic music rasika (admirer) on Instagram or Facebook must have seen ads and personal requests from their favorite artists about supporting their Margazhi efforts. What is different this time from what happened earlier in the year is the quality of these productions. Here are some of them that caught my eye with interesting trailers, great ads and sophisticated production values.

The earliest trailblazer in this category was Ranjini-Gayatri when they moved to a new virtual concert platform (www.voncerts.in) which featured high production values, good audio quality and some great performances. Since the launch in summer, the dynamic duo continue to offer paid concerts with regularity on voncerts.

Friends in Concert, an effort that premiered on 4th Dec and led by T.M.Krishna. Behind the execution of this concept is another musician and student of Krishna, Rithvik Raja. If you havent already, I would suggest you sign up for this concert (www.friendsinconcert.in) and soak it in. Set in some wonderful locations with really excellent production values and audio quality, it is truly a pleasure. Starting with TMK and R.K.Shriramkumar on the violin, playing on a thinnai (a sit out in a traditional South Indian village homes) with rain pouring outside is everything that could be right about the moment. There is a lot more music, lot more locations and lot more artists collaborating in this ~2hour experience that is just so good.

MadRasana’s Virtual Festival 2020 is premiering in a couple of weeks (you can still get tickets here) with a set of 6 concerts featuring not just great artists but also some really lovely locations and the high production quality that MadRasana is known for (note: I have occasionally helped MadRasana with some of their outreach in the past just to support their efforts to spread Carnatic music but this post is entirely written on my own volition with no relation to MadRasana). Just a look at the trailers featuring Ramakrishnan Murthy sitting in what looks like an old fashioned theppakulam (temple water tank) and Akkarai sisters playing an invigorating piece in the miththam (central square within the confines of the premises) of a traditional South Indian home and much more with Sudha Raghunathan, Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna, Sandeep Narayan and Abhishek Raghuram- each in a distinctly unique ambiance suggests that this is going to be an audio visual treat for the audience.

One of the most popular December concerts over the past two years is Tamizhum Naanum (Tamil and me) by Sanjay Subrahmanyan. The concert comprises entirely of compositions in the Tamil language (see an example here). This year, Sanjay and the TVS organization is offering this concert for free online (requires registration here). Having the luxury of listening to this concert even if its virtual, is a special bonus for a rasika like me from the US.

Not to be left out, a few sabhas (music organizations) in Chennai have joined to offer “Yours Truly Margazhi”, a full season of kutcheris (concerts) featuring a wide array of artists from the upcoming Vidwans and Vidushis to seasoned artists. Given the sheer number of concerts and the wide array of talent, it is worth checking out. You can sign up for the entire season here.

As a rasika living abroad, this shift towards high quality, well produced virtual concerts set in beautiful outdoor locations is a welcome one. It offers me access to music that wasn’t available if I weren’t in India and in a way that allows me to compensate the performers. But if this shift were to be permanent, it can cause some other challenges - music will no longer be accessible to the casual rasika in India who cant afford the ticket prices for these virtual concerts or who does not have access to a good internet connection. Additionally, there may be a ceiling to the number of such virtual concerts that can be produced given the care and attention to detail and preparation they deserve. But going back to the pre-pandemic model once things get back to normal will deprive people like me of such experiences and honestly, deprive artists of a second revenue stream. A balance of the two, with a few good virtual productions thrown in the mix with the usual annual calendar of performances in sabhas and temples, in India and abroad will be great for audiences across the world, thirsting not just for a live concert but also the high production value gems that we are now seeing this December season.

For now, I will enjoy a December filled with some spectacular Carnatic music every day and hope and pray our artists succeed in keeping their profession alive so they can continue to offer great music across different formats in the coming years. Amidst all the negativity of the pandemic, this new delivery mechanism for concerts might just end up being a second coming for the medium.

P.S: I would be amiss if I didnt mention that YouTube is a heaven for some really high quality Carnatic music productions even pre-pandemic. I would draw attention to the remarkable work being done by First Edition Arts in this regard. I find their offerings to be of high production value with some great performances, lec dems and other musical explorations.